Opinion columnist and blogger at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

In Georgia, voting for Congress is reduced to a farce

One look at the results of Georgia’s 14 congressional races tells you just how dangerously fraudulent the notion of “self-government” has become.

In half of the districts, voters in last week’s general election had literally no choice. Because the districts were so heavily gerrymandered in favor of one party or the other, only one name was on the ballot in those seven districts, four of which are held by Republicans and three by Democrats. Voting in those races was like “voting” in the former Soviet Union, where candidates were elected unanimously.

U.S. Rep. John Barrow

Voting in six of the seven districts that did at least feature two names on the ballot was just as meaningless. The average margin of victory in those six “contested” races was 33 percentage points, compared to a margin in the top statewide races of roughly eight points. In those races, there was no real debate; no real sense that voters had any power. And there is no fear among incumbents in those districts that they might be held accountable for their votes and actions.

The only election that was worthy of the term occurred in the 12th District, where incumbent Democrat John Barrow lost by 9.5 percentage points to newcomer Rick Allen. And with Barrow’s departure, it’s doubtful that the heavily Republican 12th will ever be competitive again in its current form.

That’s what happens when voters don’t pick their politicians, and instead politicians pick their voters. They insulate themselves from competition, ensuring that the only real challenge to their incumbency comes in their party’s primary. The process forces conservative politicians to get more conservative, and liberal politicians to get more liberal. Barrow, a conservative Democrat, bucked that dynamic for years until it finally got the best of him.

It’s important to note that there are no bad guys in this story, or at least nobody who is worse than anyone else. Georgia Democrats gerrymandered the state when they had the power to do so, just as Republicans are doing now, and members of both parties make maximum use of highly accurate computerized mapping programs wherever state law allows them to do so.

One hundred years ago this year, and for the first time in American history, voters throughout the country were able to vote directly for their state’s U.S. senators. Prior to adoption of the 17th Amendment in 1913, senators in many states were chosen by state legislators, not voters, until the people insisted that they be allowed to elect their leaders directly rather than through proxies.

Today, it’s the House of Representatives whose membership is largely decided by state legislators, with voters serving as little more than rubber stamps for decisions made by those whose primary interest is in protecting the status quo against any who would dare to challenge it. And while we complain about a political system crippled by growing divisiveness, we meekly tolerate an election structure that rewards and even mandates that divisiveness.

Your description of gerrymandering as legislators choosing their voters captures the lack of representation in legislative bodies. If you are in the minority in a gerrymandered district, why vote or expect any responsiveness from your legislator? Government by the people does not exist.

Unfortunately, the people cannot change the process in Georgia as the Constitution cannot be changed without the approval of the General Assembly. It is a rigged system that favors incumbents of both parties.

There are electoral reforms that would make our system more representative and encourage moderation. I particularly like the instant runoff voting mechanism using multi-member districts with ranked voting. It undermines gerrymandering, encourages moderation, and results in officials more reflective of the various viewpoints of the people. We need to restore republican government. Unfortunately, the country that took selection of senators away from legislators in order to promote government by the people does not apparently exist anymore.

John Barrow survived so long by way of the southern Democrat tactic of hunker-down-and-hope-the-sh**-misses. Well, there was too much fertilizer coming off the Democrat fan this year and it nailed him. Like a good many blue-dogs he had the opportunity to speak up and serve the same purpose as the Tea Party does in the Republican Party, he didn't.

With last week’s election 33 states will likely have Republican
governors, versus only 16 with Democrat governors. And 29 state legislatures
will be wholly dominated by Republicans versus just 11 where Democrats will rule.

California figured out a solution to the gerrymander problem by creating a Citizens Commission to draw voting districts. This commission first met in 2011 and drew new districts for 2012 elections.

The districts were drawn based upon geography, not politics. As a result, the new districts are more "purple," rather than either blue or red.

This method of drawing voting districts came about through California's proposition voting mechanism, which puts proposals on voting ballots as referendums. This prevented politicians from blocking action.

It will be interesting to see whether any other states figure out a way to implement nonpartisan commissions to draw voting districts.